Gem Opportunities

Opportunities appear at turning points in human history to improve society. The paths we take depend on moral choices between different philosophies. The Communitas Expansion Pack adds this brand new feature to Civilization 5. It is similar to the Events from Civ 4.

Good luck in life such as meeting someone interesting, getting an unexpected raise at work, and winning the lottery is fun and exciting! Bad luck like unexpected breakups or getting fired is frustrating and depressing.

We play games to have fun! Opportunities are therefore designed to feel like good luck. The benefits are clearly visible, while the downsides are hidden in the background with economic and accounting concepts. For example, consider an opportunity where we invest 150g in +3 science per turn.

None of the downsides are shown on the opportunity popup window, to make them feel fun and powerful. We only see an up-front cost for a per-turn bonus.

Even if the trigger of an opportunity has a negative aspect, like protests, the outcomes can be positive: reducing crime or improving education. It's an opportunity to improve society. The central government can invest in this opportunity to get better results, or let the local authorities handle it with fewer resources, lower costs, and lower rewards.

The increase in +% chance per turn depend on era and game speed. For normal speed these are the current timers:

This means in the Medieval era we always have 1 opportunity every 20 turns. It randomly occurs earlier or later in that 20-turn timeframe, but the average is constant. After 60 turns in the medieval era we'd have precisely 3 opportunities.